Seen: John Houck at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles

Luis De Jesus Los Angeles has opened a new four-person show called “Dualities, Omissions, Loops & Ruptures.” I was particularly drawn to the work of John Houck. Here’s what the gallery press material says about his intriguing works, which are fairly large-sized pieces on paper:

John Houck explores the mediated image through layered photo-based works that function as both image and object.  His Aggregates attempt to create desire that resists a world consumed with highly repetitive things through a combination of physical intervention and reprinting.  Using custom written software, Houck generates every possible combination for a given grid printed as an index print on photographic paper.  These index sheets are then creased and re-photographed several times.  This process creates layered borders that reveal the construction of each piece and adds its own layer of information, breaking the rigid system of the grid.  By physically creasing and re-photographing these repetitive contact sheets, Houck reconciles the digital ground of photography and shows us the failures and ruptures in today’s algorithmic basis of photography.

The intricate grids reminded me of the perforated sheets of computer paper that my father used to bring me home from his job as a physics professor at Ohio State in the 1970s– filled with graphs and random numbers in code. I would happily draw monsters and Dungeons and Dragons maps on them for hours!

Be sure to visit the gallery before the show ends on April 7. And check out more of Houck’s outstanding work on his website.

Luis De Jesus Los Angeles: 2685 S. La Cienega Blvd/Los Angeles, CA 90034

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Seen: John Houck at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles